Which would you choose?

When it comes to others?

When it is you?

Many are hired for achievement: What are your qualifications?  What have you done?

It makes sense, doesn’t it.  A proven track record.  How many people have been described as having great potential, only for this not to be realised?

Then again, how many have achieved something special, only to get stuck and find themselves unable to go further, or repeat the success?

Of course, potential and achievement are not mutually exclusive.

The important question is, how can potential be turned into achievement, and how can achievement be turned into more potential?

It’s about perseverance.

Seth Godin highlights how, ‘Persistence in the face of a sceptical authority figure is a powerful ability.’*

The engine-house for persistence or perseverance is integrity (becoming a more integrated person isn’t just about ourselves, but also includes others and the world we live in) and wholeness (realising just how much to begin with or call upon right now); these drive us so powerfully because our integrity is never perfect and our wholeness is never complete, we’re always pushing on for more.**

Potential needs to be realised in achievement, and, achievement needs to produce greater potential, so there personal growth consequences.

Neither potential nor achievement can be copied or formatted:

‘I have done what was mine to do, now you must do yours.’^

(*From Godin’s thesis on education Stop Stealing Dreams (this link will take you to a free download), also included in Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?)
(**Carol Dweck covers important elements of this in her exploration of fixed and growth mindsets, in Mindset.)
(^Saint Francis, quoted by Richard Rohr in Eager to Love.)